


Secret Ingredient

by stpitbull



Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-29
Updated: 2012-03-29
Packaged: 2017-11-02 17:14:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/371433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stpitbull/pseuds/stpitbull





	Secret Ingredient

The relative peace of the Lucky 38 presidential suite was disrupted by its owner stomping out of the elevator and immediately sequestering herself in the master bedroom. Arcade followed from the elevator and stood in front of the door, seeming to wage a quiet internal debate.   
  
Veronica blinked from where she froze mid-step in the hallway, then looked over at Arcade. "I take it you two had another fun-filled adventure?" she said.   
  
Arcade sighed. "You could say that."   
  
Cass leaned out of the kitchen, catching herself on the doorframe. "Booze time? I'll whip up her favorite."   
  
Veronica wrinkled her nose. "'Whip up'? Sadie drinks cocktails?"   
  
"Well, it's straight vodka but she calls it The 'Introducing The Ghoul Boyfriend To The Parents'."   
  
"I don't think cleverly-named alcohol is going to fix this one," Arcade said, shaking his head. "I think she just needs some time."   
  
Cass snorted. "Sadie doesn't need  _time_ , she's Sadie. Veronica, go convince Boone there's some heavy shit that he needs to lift downstairs; Doc, you convince him he has a tragic allergy to shirts; I'll get Sadie to a comfortable seat where she can watch the show."   
  
"I'm serious," Arcade said. "Just... give her a little space. I think that's all she needs right now."   
  
  
  
  
Sadie sat on the couch, only catching snippets of the conversation outside but grateful her personal physician noticed a nervous breakdown when he saw one. She waited for the sounds around the door to disperse before leaning forward and putting her head in her hands.   
  
She thought she could handle it. She was used to being fucking invincible, for god's sakes. Death himself couldn't tie her down. But after a while, after enough Legion assassin squads, after seeing people at Ranger stations whose names she had known gruesomely spread on the walls, it was just too much. All of it, the war, her place in it, how she just get digging herself deeper and deeper into this shit -- the Mojave thought she was a goddamn superhero but she just  _delivered the mail_ .   
  
After some time, a few minutes, an hour, she really wasn't counting, her door softly creaked open and Lily stuck her head in. "Knock knock," she said in lieu of knocking.   
  
Sadie smiled weakly. For whatever reason, since they met in Jacobstown, Sadie had to admit she had found Lily's presence to be oddly comforting, and not just because she could rip a Legionaire in half. Most days she was more than happy to answer to "Jimmy". But today, she was just too tired. "Hey, grandma, I'm actually not feeling so great--"   
  
"I know, sweetie," Lily said, moving into the room and closing the door, one hand carrying a bowl of something steaming. "That's why granny decided you needed some good old-fashioned comfort food. Here," she said, handing Sadie the bowl, "mashed potatoes."   
  
Sadie moved the food around with her fork. "This doesn't look like Instamash."   
  
"Of course not, dearie. Only  _real_  mashed potatoes for you, made from scratch."   
  
Sadie picked up her fork skeptically, then took a bite. "They're good," she told Lily.   
  
"The secret ingredient is love," said the enormous nightkin.   
  
Sadie grinned and took a few more bites, Lily settling heavily on the couch next to her. "Now," she said as Sadie ate, "why don't you tell granny what's got you so blue?"

Sadie sighed, and as if some old instinct took over, she leaned into the mass of purple madness at her right, one giant arm reaching around to affectionately close around her shoulders. "Okay," she said, taking a deep breath. "There's this... bully, who's being really really...  _mean_ , to everyone."   
  
"Is this that Caesar boy that your little friend Craig is always grumping about? Do I need to call his mother?"   
  
Sadie couldn't help but chuckle. "I don't think that will work," she said. "But anyway... he's not just being mean to me, he's being mean to  _everyone_ . And he's got friends helping him. And I want to stop them, but it seems like everywhere I go, I can't take a step without someone needing something from me, and it feels like no matter what I do Caesar and his buddies are there to make things worse, and--"   
  
Lily made cooing noises that were meant to comfort. And oddly enough, they were doing the job. Sadie slumped against her and stirred her mashed potatoes with her fork. "Anyway, it's just... got me really stressed out," she mumbled, beginning to eat again.   
  
Lily just sat with her, arm around her shoulders, as she quietly ate for a few moments, before saying, "You know what I see when I watch you leave for school in the morning, Jimmy?"   
  
Sadie sniffed. "What?"   
  
"I see a brave, compassionate young man who I am  _so_  proud to call my grandson."   
  
Sadie would never, ever,  _ever_  allow her fellow companions to know the way that statement, snarled lovingly by a psychotic nightkin in a sunhat, made her chest swell with unbidden pride. Christ, maybe she was losing it. And maybe that was okay. She leaned further into Lily, wrapping an arm around her and getting half-crushed by a hug in response. The Lily rose, patting her knee with a giant hand. "Now, you finish up your dinner, sweetie, and you get some rest."   
  
It wasn't much longer before Sadie swaggered into the kitchen, started pouring herself an Introducing The Ghoul Boyfriend To The Parents and said to Cass, "So, what's this I hear about Boone being allergic to shirts?" But before she followed the gleefully cackling cowgirl into the elevators, she sought out Lily and enveloped her in a fast hug. "I think you just saved me," she said unreservedly.   
  
"Well, it was your turn," Lily said simply.


End file.
